Topic: Where to store large music collection in a house?

[bhoy]

Hi all -

I'm about to move into a house finally, and I can finally pull together all my music into one place.  Vinyl, cassettes, DAT, Hi8's, VHS's, DVD's, reel to reels, newspaper clippings, posters, t-shirts, etc - all in one place, rather than scattered throughout my parents places and my apartment.  I was just wondering if there is something I can do to make the basement viable for storing this stuff.

I've had stuff in my Mom's basement for years, constantly running a dehumidifier, and the stuff seems ok.  Alternatively, I could use a spare bedroom, and pile it high and deep.  I'd just like to be able to build shelves and have access to most everything.  I've collected for too long and always had to stash everything away.

I suppose I'd like to build Home Depot style shelves and set it up with aisles.  Everything doesn't need to be out, Rubbermaid bins would still be ok.  I'd just rather not have the stuff deteriorate.

I'd love to hear from anyone else that has a large collection.

Thanks,
Bill

[NOLAfishwater]

I think Moke built a bed frame that hold all his music.

[Sanjay]

This would be just about perfect probably...

http://atochadesign.com/page_5.html

I think they're insane for the price though.  Bet you could find one at a YS and with a bit of DIY make a media cabinet.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I finally bought a nice armoire for the main room and gave away some other stuff.

Where is your playback system?  I'd put your media near there as possible and use bins on adjustable storage shelves if you don't want to do wood work.  But you could make some very nice cabinets to fit exactly what you have.

[sygdwm]

Its a bit like a tapers/musicologists mouse-death trap though. If the lid gets you, you're dead.

[Gordon]

I think Moke built a bed frame that hold all his music.

yep.
I store music, and older playback gear under there. Its worked out really well.
Its a bit like a tapers/musicologists mouse-death trap though. If the lid gets you, you're dead.


http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,101340.msg1393782.html#msg1393782

awesome   

[carlbeck]

Go to Ikea & buy some of the Expedit bookcases. I have a few in my house & they are cheap & well constructed. I have one of the larger ones in my music room/office & they fit records perfectly. You can purchase some of the Leckman boxes for your tapes & reels. Take a look at the link, you will see a few of the boxes in the picture as well. Cheapest media storage out there IMO.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60071358

[datbrad]

I use the plastic file cabinets sold at Staples, the ones with almost clear drawers of different sizes that stack together. I have them stacked chest high, and lined across 2 walls in my "office" at the house, and all the CDRs and DATs are in them, as well as the half of my cassette collection that is not in suitcase style cases.

My store bought CDs and DVDs are in a normal wall rack, and the VHS are in their own cabinet. The only thing I have not figured out is what to do with music "memorabilia" and posters not framed or hung up. I have little crap like stubs/passes, flyers, handbills, buttons, etc. in cardboard boxes in a closet, along with a stack of about 30 posters lying flat on the upper shelf, and more in a pile of mail tubes in the corner.

I would love to have a house one day with enough rooms to have one simply as an archive that is like an exhibit, where everything is displayed on the walls in frames, in curio cabinets, and shadow box cases covering my own live music journey since my first Grateful Dead show in 1982. I was thinking even that I could buy an old pair of NAKs like I started with and an old Bogen stand and hook it up to my old D5 in a mock up of a typical setup from the GD section in the '80s. Velvet ropes around it, just like at museum gallery. That would be really cool......

[bgalizio]

Go to Ikea & buy some of the Expedit bookcases. I have a few in my house & they are cheap & well constructed. I have one of the larger ones in my music room/office & they fit records perfectly. You can purchase some of the Leckman boxes for your tapes & reels. Take a look at the link, you will see a few of the boxes in the picture as well. Cheapest media storage out there IMO.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60071358

My Dad uses this bookcase for his very large LP collection. Works great!

[som]

I have two discontinued Ikea CD shelves that each hold 800+ CDs. Records are in a variety of shelves & cabinets.

These Expedit shelves can handle the weight of LPs? Hundreds of LPs?

[Brian Skalinder]

I was just wondering if there is something I can do to make the basement viable for storing this stuff.  < snip >  Everything doesn't need to be out  < snip >  I'd just rather not have the stuff deteriorate.

I'll offer a different perspective, and one that doesn't match your specific question.  But I think it's worth considering, anyway...

To satisfy the above requirements, and perhaps most importantly the last one, there's really only one viable long-term option, IMO:  convert - anything that can be converted - to digital and / or acquire in digital format those items that are readily available.  Store on HDD.  Mirror / store on another on-site HDD for redundancy.  Store on optical media for local backup.  Store on off-site HDD or optical media for safest backup. 

Not everything you want to store will convert easily to digital, and some you may elect not to convert (e.g. t-shirts).  And it's a HUGE effort.  But in my mind it's really the only way to ensure it's all "safe" - and accessible - as can be.

[stevetoney]

I was just wondering if there is something I can do to make the basement viable for storing this stuff.  < snip >  Everything doesn't need to be out  < snip >  I'd just rather not have the stuff deteriorate.

I'll offer a different perspective, and one that doesn't match your specific question.  But I think it's worth considering, anyway...

To satisfy the above requirements, and perhaps most importantly the last one, there's really only one viable long-term option, IMO:  convert - anything that can be converted - to digital and / or acquire in digital format those items that are readily available.  Store on HDD.  Mirror / store on another on-site HDD for redundancy.  Store on optical media for local backup.  Store on off-site HDD or optical media for safest backup. 

Not everything you want to store will convert easily to digital, and some you may elect not to convert (e.g. t-shirts).  And it's a HUGE effort.  But in my mind it's really the only way to ensure it's all "safe" - and accessible - as can be.

^^ Seconded. 

First the physical storage question...I have hand made shelves that I made out of raw boards that meet the needs of the media that I'm storing.  For example, I have 4 or 5 CD storage shelving units made from 1 x 6's that I just screwed or nailed together...takes about an hour and costs about $30 each.  Each rack is about 6 feet high and 4 feet wide, with maybe 9 or 10 shelves.  I anchor each shelf at the top with wall anchors and L-Brackets and they're perfect.  For my massive DVD collection, I used wider boards and fewer shelves (since the space between the shelves is the height of a DVD case instead of a CD jewel case).  I got rid of most of my vinyl and don't listen to vinyl anymore, but that might pose a unique challenge for that methodology. 

Regarding virtual storage, I'm in the process of doing EXACLY what Brian has suggested.  Given that I've got about $25,000 - $30,000 or so invested in my music collection, they're all eventually gonna be electronically saved on an array of 1 TB harddrives. 

Obviously this doesn't include the many many tousands I've spent on live music shows...so I'm also in the process of backing up all of my masters. 

So, I'm in the process of getting all of these files stored onto the harddrives.  My current dilemma is deciding when is the right time to buy back up drives.  I know that ideally the best answer is to buy backups now and start backing everything up as I go, but as usual money is a limitation.  So, I've got the new drives currently just saving the source material and at some point soon, I'll spend another $400 or so on a couple of more 1TB drives for backing it all up.

Then my plan is to keep the backup drive at work, probably just stored in my desk...of course all of my source drives are at home.  After I perform a backup and the info is all identical on both the source and backup drives, I might swap drives at that point so that the backup drives get some use and don't just end up failing from lack of use.  I'm soft on this last point though...not sure what the best approach there is (use both drives equally by swapping them every few months, or just use one set of drives as a source drives until they fail and then put the backup drives into action).
 

[kskreider]

I have two discontinued Ikea CD shelves that each hold 800+ CDs. Records are in a variety of shelves & cabinets.

These Expedit shelves can handle the weight of LPs? Hundreds of LPs?

Easily.  I have the large Expedit loaded FULL of books, but I also have it strapped the the wall.  Also if you want something more 'dresser-like try IKEA's MALM.  I use the large one (reinforced mind you) for holding sleeved CD's, and three small ones as an entertainment center.